This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from the prior Japanese Patent Applications No. 11-152472, filed May 31, 1999; and No. 2000-134704, filed May 8, 2000, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
The present invention relates to a portable electrocardiogram monitor which can easily be carried with a user having a heart disease as a chronic one while he or she is traveling or the like.
Various types of portable medical equipment have recently been developed in accordance with a transition to an aging society; however, no portable electrocardiogram monitors have been done yet. Electrocardiograms are tracing made by inducing bioelectric currents generated by the contraction of heart muscles. It is thus difficult for an amateur having no expert knowledge to find heart abnormalities at a glance at the electrocardiogram.
As described above, high-level expert knowledge is required in order to determine by electrocardiograms whether a heart is normal or abnormal. So far no home-based portable electrocardiogram monitors have been spread widely.
The object of the present invention is to provide a portable electrocardiogram monitor capable of accurately checking whether a user""s heart is normal or not by a simple operation without any expert knowledge.
In order to attain the above object, a portable electrocardiogram monitor of the present invention has the following features in structure.
(1) A portable electrocardiogram monitor according to the present invention comprises:
an electrode piece fixed in contact with a surface of a body of a user, for receiving an electrical signal corresponding to a bioelectric current generated by contraction of heart muscles;
a signal amplifier for amplifying the electrical signal received by the electrode piece;
a processor for processing a signal amplified by the signal amplifier to acquire electrocardiogram waveform data;
a display for displaying an electrocardiogram based on the electrocardiogram waveform data acquired by the processor;
a memory for storing electrocardiogram waveform data of the user who is in good health, as standard data;
a comparator for comparing the electrocardiogram waveform data acquired by the processor with the standard data stored in the memory;
a determination unit for determining one of presence and absence of abnormality according to whether a difference between the electrocardiogram waveform data and the standard data, compared by the comparator, exceeds a permissible range; and
an alarm generator for raising an alarm when the determination unit determines the presence of abnormality.
(2) The portable electrocardiogram monitor described in above item (1), wherein the standard data is average electrocardiogram waveform data of the user who is in good health, processed by the processor for preparation of measurement and stored in the memory in advance.
(3) The portable electrocardiogram monitor described in item (1), wherein the alarm generator includes at least one of acoustic alarm generation means using sound, optical alarm generation means using light, and information-transmission type alarm generation means using character information and image information.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and obtained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out hereinafter.